Improvement in burial-caskets



L. W. DRAKE. Burial-Gasket.

No. 216,513. Patented June UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS W. DRAKE, OF HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BU RlAL-CASKETS.

- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 216,513, dated June 17, 1879; application filed I April 14, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwis W. DRAKE, of Hazleton, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Goffins and Caskets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a coflin or casket and its lid having my improvement. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the buttons detached, and Fig. 4 is a view of the centeringtool for placing the buttons in position.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like letters of reference.

tThis invention relates to cofiins and cask e s.

It consists in a button of cone, pyramid, or other suitable shape, adapted to be secured upon the rim of a coffin-lid in such a manner as to fit between the sides of the cotfin; the object of said button or set of buttons being to make the coffin-lid self-adjusting, so that no time may be lost in placing it in positionin order to bore for the screw-holes.

Another object of said buttons is, in the event of warping of the coffin-sides, to force them back to position, thus causing the screwholes in the coffin and lid invariably to register with each other.

I shall now proceed to describe the construction and operation of my invention with refer- It will be seen that when the cover is placed upon the coffin, the buttons D D will immediately guide it to its proper position.

To locate the buttons I employ the simple tool shown in Fig. 4.. It consists simply of a try-square, E, to the corner of which is secured a guide-board, F, at an angle of fortyfive degrees to its sides.

By placing said tool upon the cofiin-side, as shown in the drawings, and sliding it from point to point, the position in which the buttons should be placed can readily be found.

The buttons D D may be made of any suitable material, wood or metal, and may be se cured in position by any suitable means. As regards their shape, I desire to say that they may be round, oval, cone shaped, pyramidshaped, or, in fact, of any desired form, provided that one or more sides are beveled, without which they would not readily answer the purpose for which they are intended.

The operation of my invention, and the advantages resulting therefrom, will readily suggest themselves.

First, in boring for the screw-holes, the workman is saved the trouble of adjusting the lid, because the buttons will adjust themselves between the coffin-sides, thus bringing the lid immediately to its proper position.

Again, while the coffins are stored, the sides almost invariably warp or collapse. The result is, that when a coffin is to be used, and the corpse has been placed in position, the lid does not seem to fit, and the screw-holes therein do not register with those in the edge of the cofiin.

The loss of time from such causes, and the unpleasant scenes of excitement and disturbance invariably resulting therefrom, are totally avoided by the use of my invention. 7

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- LEWIS w. DRAKE.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. BARTON, W. F. MARTZ. 

